You can’t have skeletons in the closet if you want to be the Commander in Chief of the U.S. Armed Forces.

As Election Day draws near, I imagine that both McCain and Obama are exhausted; both have been run through the ringer. After all, they must endure non-stop campaigning schedules, high pressure debates, and the constant scrutiny of the press. Along with this, every aspect of their lives are being examined under the most powerful of microscopes. From tax records to religious affiliations to personal friendships, both men are left bare, no secrets uncovered. Read more →

War is hard. It is hard on the economies of the countries involved; it is hard on the leaders of governments; it is hard on the families of those left behind for deployment; it is especially hard on the soldiers. It is no secret that, for generations of wars and military conflicts, soldiers have experienced stress and trauma that leaves a permanent mark on their health and well-being. For some soldiers, this may be a scar, a battle wound, or the loss of a limb. But for some soldiers, the damage is less apparent, manifested in mental health disorders, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and alcohol misuse. Read more →

Nepal… Where on earth is that country? Mt Everest — the tallest mountain in the world. Mix them up and we have a country with a tag of one of the poorest in the world, an economy ravaged by a decade long war and a healthcare system that has done anything but to uplift the health standards.

Headache! I hear that complaint every time I sit down in my clinic to see a patient. Has headache become a national disease all of a sudden or is it manifesting in its fullest form now that the country is finally going through a transition? Read more →

Well, if you think that the anti-tobacco lobby has won the war, think again. Do the Wall Street charts show a downtrend – I don’t think so. It’s true that conventional advertising for cigarettes through magazines and billboards is down at its all time low, but recent statistics from the Federal Trade Commission indicate that marketing expenditure by the tobacco industry rose by 22% between 2002-2003, from $12 billion to $15 billion. Marketing strategy had just shifted to more niche-oriented methods like direct mail, event promotions and coupon discounts. Read more →

Any doubts that playing video games make better endoscopic surgeons have been dispelled by a series of studies from the mid 1990s. The latest confirmation, published in the Archives of Surgery, comes from a study on video games and laparoscopic surgery, at Beth Israel Medical Center, NY, aptly named “Top Gun.”

Young surgeons who were the best video game players made 47% fewer errors, finished 39% faster and performed 49% better overall, leaving little room for skepticism. A significant correlation was also found between better performance and playing at least 3 hours of video games a week. Read more →

Engel’s portrayal of the biopsychosocial model has significantly redefined psychiatry, medicine, and psychology. With the emergence of health psychology and behavioral medicine in primary care settings and the training of general practitioners on different health paradigms, patients are increasingly aware that their medical providers view them as a person, and not solely by their disease. Read more →